Curbing it - Living large with the OM-1

A guilty pleasure is what it really is--being able to get back to your roots and shoot with a manual camera, B&W film and a lowly 50mm lens. The Olympus Odyssey Camera was the camera of choice for this outing. Here, the subject is the shape of the bricks in this sidewalk as it meets the curving curb.

For some strange reason, I worried far less about exposure with the OM-1 than I do with my digital wonderbricks. You just keep that ol' needle somewhere between the brackets and just shoot. No chimping necessary to verify that the evaluative metering system has thought the same way you intended it to think. With the OM-1, it's all about the subject, with a modern camera, it's all about the process. I know, Moose will crucify me on this. ;)

The OM-1 was a fun camera to shoot. It just feels like getting into a classic sports car and letting the wind blow your hair. No fancy stereo, no neon ground-effects lights. Just four tires, an engine and the whine of a transmission.

B&W with the Retina 1A

This photograph was taken with an old Kodak Retina 1A on Ilford XP2 film. (click on the image to see a larger version). Image was scanned on a Nikon Coolscan V-ED and downsized in Photoshop Elements.

Throughout the roll of film, there is good shadow detail as well as excellent highlight range. The Ilford film has such outstanding dynamic range and even when overexposed by two stops is still fully usable. I was pleased with the Retina 1A, but encountered a halation issue beyond the edge of some of the frames which may be caused by the film pressure plate not holding the film securely against the mask.

How sharp is the lens? Very. The ultimate sharpness of the lens was not achievable due to defraction limitations. Most of the images had to be taken at F11 and overexposed because of the ISO 400 speed of the film and that the images were taken in bright midday sun. But of the F8 images, the sharpness is exceptiona.

Old cameras, like the Retina 1A, are very low cost, yet of high quality. Film is inexpensive and film scanners easily digitize the images. It's liberating to be able to shoot with a camera that has no metering system of any form.